Decoded
by MissMintCoffeeMocha
Summary: Going to school? Easy as pie. Successfully decoding stolen Itex documents? No problem. Saving the world? Difficult, but not impossible… Being alone with your best friend who you may or may not have more than flock-mate feelings for in Paris, the so-called City of Love? Hopeless. FAX!
1. Prologue

**A.N. Hello, everyone! It's been awhile since I've written, but recently I've been having the idea for this Max Ride story.  
I don't want to give too much away, except for there's another baddie out there trying to rid the world of the 'inferior' people to create a superior race, and ultimately: the perfect world.  
It takes place somewhere in the 2****nd**** book; the flock is already going to school and living with Anne. I'm going to put my own little twist on the Codes they found at the Institute back in the Angel Experiment, as they're going to play a really large part of the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or the characters, just my own ideas! ;)  
I'm going to try and give this story a mystery/puzzle solving flair to it: Hopefully I can pull it off! :)  
I hope you enjoy it, and happy reading! **

**-Lexi**

**Prologue: **

It's funny, really – how she found out about this. Who'd have known that she'd ever figure out those codes? Then again, who could have guessed that she'd steal them in the first place?

The man chuckled, shaking his head at the thought.

'Maximum Ride,' he thought, gazing at the tiny red blimp on the large television monitor in front of him. 'You are _truly_ more intelligent than I'd realized.' He scratched his chin, smirking as the dot slowly progressed down a line, signifying her travels down a road.

'Too bad you don't realize you're being tracked.'

He looked down at the keypad, fingering the controls until the view on the screen was minimized. Glancing back up, a satellite map of the city of Paris, France filled the monitor, with squiggly crisscrossing lines that marked the city's busy roads and highways. The red blimp was at the upper portion of the city, a place that he had visited recently in the past few months.

'You're getting close, little birdie.' The blimp stopped moving, the red color pulsating as it did so. 'A few more days and you'll step right into my trap.'

The man debated on laughing evilly, but decided against it. His colleagues would shame him for sure.

No doubt the so-called 'savior of the world' was journeying with her dark boyfriend, which made capturing her a bit harder. If only she would have listened to her Voice like she was told, she wouldn't have given any room for the possibility of her being followed. His plan would have worked perfectly. Now here he sat, analyzing the screen and attempting to predict their next move.

After twenty minutes, the blimp hadn't yet moved from the screen. In zooming back in, he concluded that they were in La Brasserie de l'Isle Saint-Louis, a quaint bistro and coffee shop in the heart of Paris. It was strange that they had chosen to stop there, really. They were faced with the threat of the world being destroyed, and all they could think of was eating scones and sipping vanilla lattes?

Her time was running out – the first snow had already begun to fall. Did she not care?

Maybe the 'almighty' Maximum wasn't destined for greatness after all.

But he digressed. Her ability to be easily sidetracked helped to play in his favor.

He sat back in his office chair, lifting his legs atop his desk and crossing them.

Was it professional? No. But did he care?

Not at all.

For once things were playing out the way he wanted. This was _his_ plan, and it was working. No one, not the other scientists, the other 'professionals' could call him a failure anymore.

Once he had Max, that is.

And he would get Max, even if it was the last thing he did.

He chuckled, pressing a hand against his mouth. 'Soon, Maximum. Soon you'll truly see what it's like to be miserable. To not be the one on top. And you'll have a front row seat, my dear…'

He closed his eyes, listening to the soft beeping sound of the blimp.

'…To watch the world burn... with you as the kindling.'

**A.N. Feel free to tell me what you think! Constructive Criticism is always welcome and appreciated, as is every review!**

**Thanks for reading, and let me know how you think it's going to go! I always love hearing you guys' ideas!**

**-Lexi **


	2. Chapter 1

**A.N. Alright, Chappie 1 is up!**

**I know the summary of this story seems really serious, but I'm going to try and add as much humor as I can to the story, so just hang in there!**

**For story purposes, Max & Fang are 15, Iggy is 14 (almost 15), Nudge is 12, Gazzy is 9, and Angel is 6. And Total is… erm… However old Total is. And Iggy can see against white backdrops (even though this is set in book 2).**  
**I hope you guys like it!  
****-Lexi**

Chapter 1:

"Do you think we should try another code?" Iggy asked tiredly from beside me, sitting on the carpeted floor of my bedroom.

The coded papers we had found from the Institute in New York were scattered all around us, and nothing was making sense.

"I don't know, Ig," I sighed, rubbing my temples. I felt a massive headache coming on. "We've already tried just about everything we can think of."

We've tried finding codes in a number of different books, like the Bible and the dictionary. Heck, we'd even used the freaking yellow pages. That had been one of our more frustrating attempts, believe me.

Now we had just gotten done trying a different way to decipher the codes, only to come up empty handed yet again. It was past ten o'clock now, and we were all tired and frustrated. The younger kids had all gone to bed an hour ago, courtesy of Anne's enforcement of a curfew. Which us older kids ignored, of course.

Fang looked down at us from where he was seated on my bed, papers spread out around him on my red comforter. "There has to be some kind of hint on one of these pages. We printed out the whole file, right?"

I nodded. "Yep. But it was uploaded via computer. Maybe the decoder was hidden somewhere in their other system files? Their hard drive maybe?"'

If that was the case, it meant bad news for us. We barely escaped with our lives when we had broken into the Institute for Higher Living a month ago, and I didn't intend to ever go back there, for more than one reason.

Along with almost getting captured for experiments for the nth time in our lives, I'd also fought Ari, an Eraser: a half-human, half-wolf recombinant with a thirst for avian-human blood. A.k.a., _us_. The flock.

And I… I had killed Ari. The thought of me killing someone, even if he was my worst enemy, was terrible, and I didn't like to think about it. I could still see his lifeless eyes staring up at mine as I sat on his chest, his neck bent at an awkward angle. I was still haunted by Jeb's voice, his father, echoing after me as I flew through the sewer tunnels.

"You killed your own brother!"

I still didn't know what to make of that phrase, and I refused to think about it. But to my relief, and my complete horror, Ari had come back somehow, a few weeks ago. We had fought in the air, and he had clawed Fang up pretty bad, to the point where he had collapsed out of the sky from blood loss. He ended up in the hospital, where he was stitched up. But the major offset to his operation was that the doctors had seen his wings, and had called the FBI on us.

Yep, that's right. The _FBI_. And like out of some kind of sci-fi movie, we were interrogated by posh agents in monkey suits about our lives, the School, and Jeb. Unfortunately for them, they severely underestimated the ability of us kids to have expert poker faces and B.S. answers. So since they obviously weren't getting anywhere with us, Anne had stepped in. She was the FBI agent that the other agents called when things went crazy-nutso on their end.

But contrary to my first impression of her, I actually liked her. She hadn't seemed like the other stuck-up moronic agents with spit shined shoes and ironed shirts. She was down to earth, and even though I didn't completely trust her, she seemed more reliable than any other adult in our life at the moment.

In meeting me, she had made us an offer I couldn't refuse; in order for Fang to get the treatment he needed, we would have to come live with her for a while so that she could study us. Not like The School's version of studying us, like with needles, shock collars, and compact dog kennels. But studying by 'un-harmful' observation and questions. At least that's what she had said, anyway.

I wanted to say no, but I couldn't- not when Fang needed the help that he did. So regretfully I agreed, and when Fang was healed, we set off for Anne's estate in the beautiful countryside of Virginia. As it turns out, Anne had a ginormous huge plantation house, which was surrounded by a lake, a forest, and almost every barnyard animal you can think of. Every one of us had our own rooms, save for Angel and Nudge, since they wanted to share, and there were five bathrooms. Yeah, you heard me- _five_. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is.

The kids loved it here. Iggy loved it here. Fang, amazingly, was enjoying himself here. And I… well, I was restless. I was having major control issues, as Anne played mom, and I played, well- _not _mom, for once in my life. I couldn't shake the feeling that she was taking my place. And selfishly, I hated the way the kids looked up to her as if she was some kind of Mother Teresa, and they looked at me as if I was now just their older sister.

And what's weird is that since we've got here, we've been safe. We haven't been ambushed. We haven't had any attacks or Eraser fights lately. And frankly, it made me edgy.

The whitecoats, a.k.a. evil scientists that grafted _wings _onto our backs, wanted us back. _Badly_. We are their precious avian-human experiments after all. They've been hunting us for the past couple of years, ever since Jeb had broken us out of the School and whisked us away to live in Colorado, where we were free from tests and cages. They had come after us again, and taken Angel. We had gotten caught trying to rescue her, but had eventually escaped. And now they insist on sending their guard dogs, the slobbering mangy Erasers after us every waking moment of the day.

"What if it's just pointless documents anyway?" Iggy said for the thousandth time since we had first started to attempt to figure them out. "I mean, it could just be some kind of computer code that leads to spam, or something."

Fang looked at him. "Yeah, but they were locked in that secret room under the Institute. If that's not a great place to keep extremely classified information on us, I don't know where is."

"Fang's right," I agreed. There must have been a reason that that file had been there, locked inside that hidden computer. "Where else better to hide information about us than a place that doesn't exist?"

The hidden computer room that we'd found these documents, as well as many other mutants in cages in, was far below the streets of New York City, under the sewers even, and down a long dark stairwell that had been hidden as well. There was no record of the place being there, and I wouldn't have known about it except that the voice in my head had told me.

And if you think that sentence was weird, you should actually try having another voice in your head, especially one that tells you what to do at the most random and annoying times possible. Especially when it seems to start spouting philosophical riddles straight from fortune cookies.

"We didn't have enough time to search the computer," Iggy whined, running a hand down his face. "We could have just plucked a scientist's extremely long and detailed instruction guidebook on how to plant hydrangeas, for all we know."

"Some of them had had our names in them, Ig," Fang said. "And I highly doubt that a whitecoat would put our names on their gardening manual, much less a bajillion pages worth of it."

In fact, the files wouldn't have caught our eye except for the fact that we saw our names on a few of them, non-coded on the computer. When we printed them out, the printer must have automatically encoded the pages, preventing us from reading them until we knew the code. Now, staring down at my pile of pages, each filled with sentences of random words that looked like an ancient lost language, I was at a loss.

At least the sentences were double spaced.

"Well, it's not making any sense," Iggy muttered under his breath, exasperated.

"I hear ya'," I said quietly. I closed my eyes, rubbing at my temples again. My headache was growing with each passing second, irritatingly enough.

"Look, there's gotta' be some way to read these," Fang pushed his dark bangs from his olive toned face, "otherwise the whitecoats wouldn't have been able to read them once they've printed them out." It was true, and that was what wasn't making sense. Why have the pages coded so that even the scientists couldn't read them? They were their files after all.

"Maybe… Maybe the codes don't correspond with anything external," I began. Fang and Iggy both looked at me. "Like a book or an article. I mean, I know we've tried looking at patterns in the words, but maybe it's something simple that we're missing. Is there any subscript or code at the bottoms of the pages? The tops?" I asked them, and Fang immediately shook his head.

"Nope, not that I've run across. And trust me," He said, gesturing to the twenty or so pages on the bed, "I've looked over these babies more times than I can count. There's nothing at the tops, either."

Iggy nodded his head. "Agreed. I got nada."

"Urgh!" I exclaimed, irritation kicking in. "We've had to have overlooked something!"

Fang sighed. "Maybe we should just give it a rest for a couple nights. Take a break, and then start again." My eyes locked with his.

"Fang, our names were in these files! What if there's something extremely important about us that we need to know about?"

My mind kept wandering back to 'expiration date', and I wondered if they had any information about _that_ in there. The thought scared me. I'd seen Erasers expire, and it was not pretty. I needed to find out if we'd get them soon, or I swore I'd self-combust.

Iggy huffed out a breath in frustration, throwing his papers onto the floor resignedly.

"Okay you two masterminds- I've had enough for one night. My brain can't handle any more gibberish sentences." He stood up and yawned. He held out a fist for both Fang and I to stack in our usual goodnight gesture.

"Night, Ig." I said. We stacked fists, and he and Fang did the same before Iggy exited the room, heading down the hallway towards his own.

Another thing that's kind of important about Iggy is that he's blind.

'But Max, how does he read the pages?!' you ask? Well, he's blind all the time, _except_ when things are against a white backdrop. So seeing black words on a piece of paper is fine. But he can only see in shadows when people or objects are against white. Don't ask me about the specifics of how his vision works, because I have no idea.

He wasn't born blind, though. The whitecoats made him blind, in a failed attempt to create an "avian hybrid with super vision". And to answer your question about how he doesn't run into everything, is that the boy's got a crazy sense of heightened hearing. He's described it as a sort of 'echolocation' before, as he's able to sort of _feel_ his surroundings. It sounds super bizarre, but the kid's abilities are amazing.

Fang begins to stack the papers he had splayed all over my bedspread. "You gonna turn in too?" I asked him, standing up and stretching. My back muscles popped from sitting hunched over for so long. I stretched my wings out a bit, letting them hang down my back.

The moon shone high in the sky from outside my window, and I was painfully aware that another day had gone by, and we still weren't getting any answers. I was starting to feel exhausted as well. Every night for the past two weeks, we had been trying to crack the code. Usually it was just Fang, Iggy, and I who would try, but sometimes the whole flock would pitch in for a while before the younger kids headed off to bed. But I had a hard time sleeping when I knew there could be vital information about us, just out of reach of my fingertips.

"Think so," he says, setting the now neat pile of documents onto my nightstand. "Gotta' rest up for a fun day of learning tomorrow."

I snorted at his sarcasm, completely in agreement. Along with the twists and turns our life has taken over the past few months, we were thrown another curveball:

Going to _school_.

And not THE school, school- I'm talking about normal school, with non-evil teachers and classrooms and homework. The rest of the flock loved it, aside from Iggy, Fang, and myself. I personally don't know how normal humans do it. Homework and cliques are _so_ not my thing. Evil corporations and butt-kickings? Definitely more my speed.

"Ugh, don't remind me," I groaned, sinking onto the bed beside him. He smirked at me, his black hair flopping into his equally dark eyes. Which matched his entire wardrobe, from his black leather jacket down to his black socks. "Do you think Headmaster Pruitt will notice if I skip tomorrow?"

Pruitt was a snake of a man, a tall balding bloke with large rimmed glasses and a sneer constantly etched onto his face. He was bent on making the student's lives miserable. Especially the flock's, since Iggy and Gazzy had lit off a pipe bomb in the boy's lavatory during their first week of school.

He shot me his signature lopsided smile. "I wouldn't push your luck."

The funny thing about Fang and I is that we are super close, closer than we are to the rest of the flock even. Don't get me wrong, the whole flock is inseparable. But Fang's my right hand man, the one I look to when I need a second opinion. We have a crazy sense of understanding, and we can often know what each other are thinking just by looking at each other. I like to think that we give the term "best friends" a whole other meaning.

"How's your side doing?" I asked.

Fang was able to take off the bandages a couple days after we came here, and now he has some pretty macho looking scars running across his abdomen where Ari had clawed him. It had hurt him to move at first, and he had definitely needed a week to recuperate. But he had taken the pain of his recovery like a champ.

"It's all healed," He said, patting his side. "It's scarred over."

Fang, the macho man that he was, hadn't told me that he had gotten the wound until I saw him fall out of the sky, unconscious. Lucky for him, Iggy and I had caught him in time so he hadn't gone 'splat' on the ground. It had shaken us all up pretty bad when we had seen Fang lying in the sand with all that blood around him...

"I'm glad. You almost gave me a heart attack, you know." Fang looked over at me at the sound of my small voice, and his eyes softened.

"Sorry. I thought I could ride it out, found out that I couldn't."

"Understatement of the century," I muttered, and he chuckled.

"Have you checked out my blog yet?" He asked. Fang had started up a blog one day during his study period, and I had secretly been keeping close tabs on it.

At first I had been completely against him having one, worried that The School could track us through it in some way, but he assured me that the site was practically untraceable. I didn't know how true it was, so I had checked it out. I had been pleased to see that he hadn't included every detail of our lives, _thank God_, but he had been writing updates on what we are up to, minus our location and gory details.

It was kind of amusing, really- his blog was his _baby_. He was constantly updating it, when he wasn't at school or helping me with something or another. And the viewers seemed to eat it up. Especially the hundred adoring girl followers he had gained over the past two weeks, sending him flirty messages and asking him personal questions. Like if he had a girlfriend, or if he had a six-pack. Or, my personal favorite- if he wore boxers or briefs. I had thought it was pretty funny, which Fang had not. I just hope the adoration doesn't go to his head.

"Yeah, it was good. I think you're the next James Patterson." What can I say? The boy had some good writing skills in him.

"Sure," He agreed, shrugging one shoulder like he didn't care. But I knew him enough to tell that he was pleased by my response. "I'm glad you like it. It's been getting a lot of hits lately. People really want to learn about us."

Yeah, or scientists want to keep tabs on us.

"How many subscribers are you at now?" When I had checked a few days ago, he had been up to a little over four hundred, which was pretty impressive.

"Almost nine hundred, now," He said, and I gaped at him. "And over a thousand people log in every day."

"Wow, Fang- that's… that's amazing!" _Nine hundred_ people reading about us? The thought was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.

"It's pretty awesome," He agreed, a smile forming on his lips. "It's cool to be able to let people know about our secret. Indirectly, of course. It's like we're not alone in this."

It was nice, in a way- it wasn't just us six in the flock, along with another handful of normal people, such as Anne and Dr. Martinez, the lady that had patched up my wing back in Arizona, who knew that we existed. And in this way, we could still remain -hopefully- off the radar while we told our story.

"I know what you mean. Plus…" I trailed off, giving him a sly smile, "You have your adoring new Fangirls to satiate your ego. As if it wasn't big enough already," I teased.

He bumped his shoulder with my own, looking down at me. "It's not as big as yours, Miss Queenie."

"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that," I retaliated, elbowing him.

Fang yawned, rubbing at his head. "Okay, bird girl," he said, getting up from the bed. "You'd better get some sleep."

Normally we would stay up and talk later, but today had been a tiring day for both of us. Along with the multiple tests we'd had in class, as well as a mountain of homework and the seemingly hopeless codes, sleep was much needed on both sides.

"You too. You look like you're going to pass out." I said as we stacked fists.

Fang shook his head. "_You_ look like you're going to pass out. Go to bed."

I grinned and we said our goodnights. I crawled under the covers as he shut off my light and closed the door behind him.

And I was asleep even before I heard Fang's footsteps reach his room.

**A.N. Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think! **  
**The story is going to speed up pretty fast, and this was kind of an introduction chapter. **  
**I hope you enjoyed! **  
**Review! :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**A.N. Sorry it took me so long to update, guys! I had this chapter written for awhile, but when I went back and re-read it, I really didn't care much for it. So I ended up re-writing it, and I'm much happier with this one than I was with the other one.  
So here is chapter two, and I will try and update more frequently from now on! I already have the next chapter written, so it shouldn't be too long of a wait for the next chappie, hopefully!  
**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorite/followed this story! It means so much to me, and I always get excited when I see that people are enjoying the story!  
-Lexi  
**

* * *

Chapter 2: **  
**

"So the Erasers are like werewolves, then?" Anne asked. Her and I were the only ones up before we had to get ready for the day, and we were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking warm liquid out of mugs. Anne had made some fresh coffee a few minutes ago, and she stirred her cup lazily as I drank my hot chocolate. I've never been much of a coffee drinker, and luckily Anne kept some Swiss Mix with mini-marshmallows in her cupboards just for Gazzy and I.

I laughed. "Kind of, except they can turn into their wolf forms whenever they like, not just on full moons."

Anne nodded thoughtfully before laughing. "That kind of reminds me of this movie, 'Twilight'. Have you ever seen it?"

"Nope. Never heard of it." Unfortunately for us bird-kids, we don't stay updated on pop culture much, being on the run and all. "Is it any good?"

"Well, it's really popular with teens now days. I'll have to rent it, and we'll have to watch it together. It's a love story about vampires, and people are totally _obsessed_ with it."

"Yeah, sure! Nudge and Angel will love it. Nudge has always been into love stories." Nudge, the girly bird-kid of our group, _adored_ love stories.

"Great! Maybe I'll pick it up after work tomorrow! Us girls can have a movie night." Anne said excitedly, winking at me.

"Yeah, that sounds fun!" I laughed at her expression. In all actuality, I could think of better things to do than spend a night watching chick-flicks, but I knew that Anne was looking forward to it.

Anne was pretty young for a high-up agent for the FBI, only around twenty-eight years old. Tall and blonde with a model's physique, she was really pretty. She always kept the appearance of a posh business-woman, with her expensive suits and high heels, but she didn't act like one. She was very intelligent and nice, and was pretty cool.

And, on the plus side, she doesn't call us freaks or try and experiment on us, which makes her a lot more likable.

Even though I hadn't trusted Anne at first, I had gradually warmed up to her. And though she kind of took over my job as 'mother' to the flock, and I had some intense territorial issues, we are able to get along pretty well. It's kind of fun, actually, to have girl talk with someone outside my flock.

I stirred my hot cocoa, which was almost gone now. It was just dusk outside, and the sun was just rising up over the horizon.

"It's so beautiful here," I said absentmindedly. The large kitchen windows allowed for a perfect view of her large acreage. The lands here were picturesque, with lush green grass and a large pond. The property was flanked by a huge mass of trees on each side, giving off a comforting sense of being closed off from the world. Safe. A large barn and chicken coops were located past the pond, filled with cows, pigs, and chickens. A horse stable was adjacent to the barn, which Nudge absolutely loved.

Altogether, this place was paradise.

"Thanks," Anne said, following my gaze out the window. She smiled. "I'm glad you like it. I like having you guys here."

"We like being here," I said cautiously. Truth be told, even though it was heaven here, I was always on edge. It seemed to safe, too unreal to live in this beautiful home, far away from The School. To go to _normal_ school, with _normal_ kids, without being attacked. To be able to swim and ride horses, and hang out like ordinary humans every day, instead of fighting for our lives to avoid being kidnapped and experimented on.

A quiet padding on the floor sprung me out of my reverie, and I switched my gaze away from the scenic landscape towards the doorway.

"Good morning, Total." Anne said. Total, Angel's little black Scottie Terrier, trotted sleepily into the kitchen.

We had rescued Total back at the Institute in New York, and Angel had immediately formed a special attachment to him. So much so that she had refused to separate from him. Thus, Total joined the flock.

Did I want a dog? No. Did I need a dog? No way. I had a hard enough time fending for five other kids and myself, much less a dog. And much less a _complaining_ dog.

Yep, Total _talks_. As if it wasn't bad enough that we had to drag him with us, he was melodramatic and constantly insisted that he could have a career as a Broadway actor.

"Good morning, Anne," Total greeted, stretching his paws out in front of him and yawning wide, showing off his tiny white incisors. "Would you mind if I troubled you for some coffee?"

Anne laughed, patting Total on the head. "Not at all, Total. I'll get you a bowl."

"You're too kind," Total praised, and I rolled my eyes. Total hopped up on the seat beside me, staring at my mug. "Hot chocolate, I see. Classy."

"Says the talking dog with an infatuation for coffee," I retorted, and he chuckled.

Anne set a small bowl filled with his second favorite drink in front of him- his first favorite was some kind of Chardonnay- and he began lapping it up happily. Anne grinned at me from across the table, trying not to laugh, and I shook my head at her, a smile etched onto my face.

When Anne had first found out that Total could talk, I swore she almost had a heart attack. But she adjusted insanely fast, much to my surprise, and had accepted Total like she had with each one of us. Still, she got a kick out of his 'dapper' personality.

Total sighed contentedly, sitting back from his still full bowl after a few seconds. "Anne, could you pass me the paper? I _adore_ the crossword puzzles."

Anne shifted the paper over to him and he grinned at her. He began lapping up his coffee once more, his eyes trained on the local headlines.

"You know, I think that we're the only morning people of the house," Anne thought aloud. I tilted my mug back, downing the rest of my hot cocoa.

I shrugged. "Usually Fang is the first one up, actually. I'm surprised that he's not awake already." Fang was notorious for being an extremely early riser. Don't ask me why- it's a mystery to me. The kid never sleeps in. Gazzy and Nudge, on the other hand, sleep like the dead.

"Well, it _is_ getting close to wake-up time," Anne said, glancing back at the digital clock on the microwave. "It's seven o'clock. Maybe I should go wake up the kids." She got up and stretched, and I resisted the urge to insist that I would do it. Old habits die hard, and I kind of missed the days where I would be the one to get everyone up in the morning.

Anne walked towards the stairway, but suddenly paused at the first step as if just remembering something. She turned back to me with a small smile. "If it's okay with you, Max? I know you usually do it. I won't be offended if you say no." Her face was earnest, and I could tell that she didn't want to make it feel like she was taking over my duties.

I debated for a moment, but I shook my head and smiled. "Thanks, Anne, but you can wake them up- I have to get ready anyways."

Anne grinned widely at me and nodded before trudging up the steps. Even though it was a simple thing like having Anne wake up my flock, it was still hard for me to let go. I felt that she was slowly taking my place, and even though I appreciated her being respectful of my position as flock leader, I knew that it was inevitable.

I sighed when she reached the top and looked over at Total.

"You're getting better," He complimented thoughtfully, smiling at me. I ruffled his fur and he growled.

"Yeah, yeah, dog breath. Finish your paper." I got up from the table, leaving a grumbling Total behind me, and bounded up the stairs to my room.

My room was at the end of the hallway, which was a straight shot from the stairs. I passed the bathroom and opened the door to my room, stepping inside and closing it.

I had to say, my room was pretty sweet- it was the biggest room on the upstairs floor. Large windows overlooked the pond on the left side, and the forest in the center. The walls were painted a pretty beige color, which contrasted with the brown hardwood floors. I had a red-ish, pink bedspread with orange pillows, which were all really comfy. My furniture was all made of dark oak, from my bedframe to my closet. The end table and desk in the corner were currently stacked with all of the Institutes coded papers, but I would deal with that headache later.

The morning light filtered into the room, making everything look bright and cheery. Too bad it was a school day; this was the perfect day to sit outside and soak up some sun.

I walked to my closet on the right side of the room and opened up the doors, pulling my school uniform out of the drawer.

Yep- we had to wear a _uniform_ to school: A white collared blouse, green and blue plaid skirt, and knee-length white socks with black shoes and a navy blue blazer complete the ensemble.

I hated the uniform, but especially the skirt- it was totally impractical for flying. But since Anne had forbidden us from flying to and from school, it wasn't much of an issue. Nudge said my outfit made me look like prep-school Barbie, which wasn't me on so many levels.

I shuffled into the clothes, sliding the blouse over my wings and patting them down so they didn't stick out. I closed the closet door and stared into the mirror hanging on its outside.

I frowned at my reflection, running my hands through my light wavy hair, now almost dry from my shower this morning. "I _so_ hate this uniform," I whispered to myself, tucking in my blouse. I _did_ look like prep-school Barbie, only without the makeup and "perfect" features. My light brown eyes stared back at me, and I shook my head at myself. I so wished I could just wear jeans and a t-shirt today.

Spinning from the mirror, I walked around my room and straightened a few things up a bit. After that, I piddled through my things, knowing that I had a ton of time to spare before we had to leave.

I didn't know why I had woken up so early this morning, but I had been wide awake at six o'clock. After my shower, I had snuck downstairs to make some hot chocolate, only to find Anne there, already dressed and ready for the day.

We had sat and talked for a long time, laughing and telling stories. It was nice, almost like what I imagined talking to an older sister would be like.

I knew how much the kids loved her, and even I liked her. Why couldn't I just let my jealousy go?

I was laying on my bed and looking at the codes again when Iggy knocked on my door.

"Hey, Max! Anne wants you downstairs- we leave in ten." Iggy said through my doorway. "Oh, and Angel saved you some food- you're lucky."

Throwing the papers back on my bed, I walked to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, then combed my hair for good measure before trudging back down the steps to where I could hear the flock in the kitchen.

I walked into the room and found Angel in my seat at the table, talking to Total.

The six year old grinned when she saw me with the huge toothy smile that I loved.

"Hi, Max!" She was already dressed and ready to go, looking extremely cute in her uniform. "I saved you some bacon!" She pushed a plate towards me as I came around to sit in the seat next to her.

"Aww, thanks, Sweetie!" I cooed, kissing her on the cheek, making her giggle.

It was no secret that Angel was my baby. Well, not technically _my_ baby- I'm only fifteen you know, but I had raised her as if she was my own. Angel really lived up to her name, with her cherubic features, blonde hair, and light blue eyes. She looked like the sweetest little kid in the world. Which she was, most of the time.

'_Thanks, Max_!' Angel said. From_ inside my mind_.

Yep, that's another thing about my little Angel- she's a mind reader. We're not sure how she is able to do it, but we figured it's because of having avian DNA in our blood. Along with reading minds, she can also control them sometimes, which I've told her is absolutely off-limits. It can be really freaky.

Iggy's extreme hearing might be classified as a power, as well as his ability to make a masterpiece of a meal without much direction. Seriously, the kid's a wiz at cooking. The Gasman has...erm, atomic incapacitating gas. Trust me, you don't want to know how that one works, and he can mimic other people's voices, which gets really irritating, but can funny as all get-out. I've lost count of how many times Iggy and Fang have gotten into fights over Gazzy's imitations.

Nudge can hack into computers, which is how we were able to log into the computer at the Institute for Higher Living, retrieving the headache-inducing codes that have become the bane of my existence. Fang and I don't really have any special abilities, save for Fang's ability to be super-stealth quiet and brooding all the time.

And I… well, I don't really have anything except for my reliable witty comebacks. I try not to be bothered by that fact.

"How's your coffee?" I asked Angel, staring at the steaming white mug wrapped in her tiny hands. Angel giggled and nodded happily, making her blonde curls spring up and down.

"It's so yummy!" She replied excitedly, lifting her mug and taking another large gulp of the drink. "I feel so awake!"

I looked at her nervously. "Umm… how many cups have you had?" She looked like she could fly through the roof. No pun intended.

"This is her second," the Gasman said from across the table, shaking his head at his little sister. "How can you drink that stuff? It's so gross!"

"It's the breakfast of champions, Gaz," Fang said smoothly, leaning against the island in the center of the kitchen. He too was drinking out of a mug, which no doubt contained plain black coffee.

Fang could be so predictable sometimes.

Gazzy blanched. "Whatever. You guys must have no taste buds." He said dismissively. I laughed, taking a huge bite out of my bacon strip.

He and Angel are the only ones that are actually related in the flock, The Gasman being older than Angel by two years. He was wearing grey slacks, the custom white collared shirt, a dark blue blazer with the academy's crest on the front pocket, and a green striped tie, much like the other two boys of the house.

My eyes locked with Fang's from across the room. He looked so different in his uniform. It's been three weeks since we started school, and I still couldn't get used to seeing him without his ensemble of black shirts, black jackets, and black jeans. Which matched his hair and eyes and wings, which were also as dark as his wardrobe.

"Where's Nudge?" I asked him, finishing off one of my strips and reaching for another.

"Anne's helping her do her hair," He said. I nodded, trying not to let my jealousy show.

Fang noticed though, and gave me a 'I know you're jealous- stop it, you baby' look.

Making sure the kids weren't watching, I flipped him off.

He smirked at me, taking another swig of his coffee.

Iggy emerged from the living room, his red hair spiked in all directions. He slumped down into the chair at the end of the table, returning Gazzy's fist bump without missing his mark.

Those two are as close as bros, and they're each other's accomplices in creating _bombs_. And I'm not talking small little smoke bombs or wiz crackers.

No, I'm talking huge explosions big enough to plow an entire forest and alert the United States government. Good thing we have wings, or we wouldn't have been able to get away before the Feds showed up.

"Where's our fashion queen?" Iggy asked. His strawberry blonde hair was spiked up in all directions. He was also showing off the small faux-diamond stud he had gotten- without my permission, of course- pierced into his ear back when we were in New York.

"She's getting her hair did, Igs," Gazzy said, trying to steal my bacon. I smacked his hand away, and he giggled.

"Paws off, little piggy," I scolded.

"It's like some kind of braid," Angel said from beside me, reading either Nudge's or Anne's mind from where the room they were in upstairs. "It's really pretty! Max, do you think Anne could do mine?"

"Sure," I said, finishing off my last piece of bacon. "She'd probably love to, Ange."

"They're done!" Angel exclaimed, clapping her hands and looking towards the stairs.

"Alright, kids," Anne called from the stairway. "Behold your new beauty queen!"

Nudge bounded down the steps in her uniform, blushing with all the attention. We all 'ooh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' as she came down, and when she reached the bottom, she twirled for us and struck a pose. We all laughed, and Iggy wolf-whistled, even though he couldn't see her. Her mocha-colored face was split into a beaming smile, showing off her shiny white teeth.

We applauded her, and she burst into a fit of giggles.

"Do you guys like it?" Nudge asked, standing in front of the table. "I love it! My hair is so soft! Anne put some fancy flower smelling spray in it to make it silky, and so it wouldn't get damaged when she straightened it. And then we had to curl it, once it was straight, and that's why-"

"Iggy reporting from Anne's kitchen in the countryside of Virginia," Iggy interrupted in a news anchor's voice, "Word just got in that the Nudge Channel is in full swing this morning-"

Nudge smacked him in on the shoulder, making him laugh. "Shove it, Iggy. But do you guys really love it? I think Anne did a great job!"

Her brown hair was braided cutely at the sides and pulled into a curled ponytail at the back. The twisted strands of her hair showed off the caramel highlights she had gotten in NYC, and I had to admit, it was really pretty.

I grinned at her, and her face lit up. "Nudge, you look gorgeo-" I trailed off as I noticed that something other than her hair was different today. "Is that _makeup_?"

She was wearing purple eye shadow, brown eyeliner, and that black stuff that goes on your eyelashes. Don't look at me like that- I may be a fifteen year old bird girl, but makeup is not something I specialize in, thank you.

Nudge blushed and suddenly looked nervous. "Well, yeah. Anne helped me put it on, and I figured that it would be okay, since it's just for today," She said hurriedly, "And I think it the eye shadow compliments my eyes nicely, and it doesn't look to dark. I wanted to try something different, you know? And- Hmmf!"

Fang slapped a hand around her mouth, silencing her blabbering. One of the many talents that I had forgotten to mention about Nudge is that she has the potential to talk your ear off, and never stop talking until someone silences her. But even though it can get annoying at times, her chatter keeps the flock entertained and talking, for the most part.

"Nudge," I began, watching as her expression dropped a bit. I wanted so badly to tell her that she was only twelve, and that she didn't need to wear makeup to school. But instead I grinned. "You better watch your back today, or boys will be all over you," I finally said, and she excitedly pushed away Fang's hand and squealed, running over to me.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said in rapid succession as she gave me a bear hug. I laughed as I hugged her tight.

Anne had made her way down the stairs as Nudge and I were talking, and now she stood in the doorway, smiling at the two of us adoringly. The way a mother would if her two children were getting along. I tried not to think too much about that.

I pulled away from Nudge, and couldn't help but grin back at her beaming face. "Go get your backpack ready. We leave in five."

Nudge gave me a mock salute, and then strode from the room.

"So, kids," Anne began, "Do you have everything ready today? I packed you guys some lunches! You each have two baloney and cheese sandwiches, two bags of chips, an apple-"

Iggy groaned at the mention of fruit.

"-which you _all_ have to eat. I'm looking at you, Iggy. And a few quarters so you guys can buy a carton of milk."

"Thank you, Anne." I said, sending her a smile. "For everything. And for doing Nudge's hair. It's really cute."

"Yeah?" She said, beaming at me. "Would you like me to teach you? It's really easy once you get the hang of it."

"Yeah, that'd be great! I think Angel wants to learn too, so maybe you could teach us both?" I shot a look at Angel, and she nodded at Anne excitedly.

She grinned at us both and nodded. "I'd love that! Alright, kiddo's! Time to pile into the van! I will be your _chauffer_ this evening." She winked at Angel, making her giggle, and headed to the door.

We all shuffled out after her, grabbing the lunches she had set out for us, and headed onto the driveway. From there we filed into her minivan, and started the drive out of her property and onto the winding country road.

But on the way to school, Anne announced that she had a surprise for us this weekend.

"Settle down, you guys!" She laughed, holding a hand up to calm the flock. "I'll give you a hint tomorrow about what it's going to be. And I'm pretty sure you guys are going to like it!"

"Can you give us a hint _now_?" Gazzy asked from where he was sitting shotgun, a hopeful expression on his face.

"_Please_, Anne?" Angel asked in a sweet voice in the seat behind Anne, giving her the Bambi eyes. Which pretty much means the cutest expression on the face of planet Earth, making it almost impossible to ever say no to her.

Trust me, it's pretty powerful- that's how she convinced Fang to keep Total.

Anne looked at her through the rearview mirror, and I saw her resolve weaken a bit. But much to my astonishment, she was able to turn away, blinking her eyes rapidly to ward off their cuteness. "Nope! Sorry guys, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow!" Angel and Gazzy shrugged at each other in a 'we tried' way.

I grinned at their excited faces, and listened to their guesses about what it was. But inside, nervousness churned inside my gut as I thought of the 'surprise' that Anne had in store for us. I hated surprises- years of living in an experimental institution will do that to you.

_'Relax, Max,_' The Voice said from inside my head, it's voice as monotone and ambiguous as ever. _'It's not anything to worry about. You might even enjoy it.'_

And for a very rare occurrence in my life, I decided to take the Voice's advice and let my stress about it fade a bit.

But if I said I let it totally disappear... well, I wouldn't be Maximum Ride then, would I?

* * *

**A.N. Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think!  
**** This was kind of another introduction chapter, and we should get to some more plot development in the next one.  
I hope you enjoyed!  
Review! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**A.N. Hey, guys! First of all, I just want to apologize for taking forever to update this story. I've been having intense writers block, and I'm sure almost all of you know what I mean when I say that I know where I want to go with this story, but the words are just not coming out the way I want them to! Gah! It's so frustrating! **

**But I think I'm back on track, now, so expect sooner updates for this chapter! Thank you guys so much for the reviews/follows/favorites for this story- I'm always happy to read your opinions on it! **

* * *

Chapter 3:

_'Max_,' The Voice chided unemotionally inside my head, _'Learning is important. You should take advantage of any chance you get to learn new information._'

_'You should also take advantage of any chance to not talk to me,_' I thought back, tapping my foot impatiently on the carpeted floor of the classroom. _'That seems pretty important too.' _

I could swear that I heard The Voice sigh over the noise of Mr. Justice's ranting lecture about how "incomprehensibly world-changing" Napoleon's Code Civil was.

Mr. Justice was my world history teacher- a balding, old, red-haired man in his late fifties. He had a thick French style mustache and large brown glasses that always hung down on his nose. Teacher-wise, he was my favorite. I wondered if it was his eccentric teaching style and I-don't-care-what-anyone-thinks personality that made me like him so much.

Too bad I just hated world history all together.

"It opened the gateway to religious freedom, the closure of serfdom- a benchmark to the destruction of the feudal system as it stood!" Justice exclaimed, pacing in front of the projector and moving his hands wildly about as he talked.

He flipped to the next slide in his PowerPoint to reveal a picture of a document with the words "CODE CIVIL Des Francais" on it.

"The Laws changed French government altogether. Government officials were no longer given jobs based on their family name and status, they were based on whoever was the most qualified to do it. In fact, privileges given based on birth were also banned, meaning that just because a family may be wealthy "sophisticated" individuals of high social rank, they were no longer guaranteed those rights."

Noticing that most of his students were spacing out, Mr. Justice paused his pacing.

"In this day in age, it would be like some of you kids being denied acceptance into this school just because your daddies have money," He supplied.

Some of the kids who heard him gasped and looked offended. One even muttered that his father would hear about this.

I tried not to snicker.

That was another reason I liked Mr. Justice so well- he said what he thought, even if it was offensive.

I could totally relate to that.

It was no secret that Virginia Prep was a charter school that focused less on academics and more on how much the kid's parents were willing to pay to get them in. Since Anne works with the FBI, she was able to get us registered for this school based on her high status and connections with the government.

Plus she had a crap-ton of money- hence her 'Gone With The Wind'-esque estate.

"That was just an example," Justice reassured, placing his hands up submissively and smiling. "I know that you _wonderful_ students have every right to be here."

Something was telling me that he thought the exact opposite.

A kid raised his hand.

"Ah, Mr. Henrics," Justice noticed. "Do you have a question?"

"Yeah. Wasn't Napoleon like… a short dwarf or something?"

The class laughed, and Justice smiled. "Actually, Napoleon was about 5'4. That's about your height, isn't it?"

I joined in with the class's laughter as Jason Henrics grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Moving on," Justice continued, resuming his pacing, "the Napoleonic Code was not the first set of laws with a civil legal system in a European country. But it did strongly influence the laws of countries that were established during and after the Napoleonic Wars."

Another click and the slide changed to show a picture of a white statue of a man with olive branches behind its ears, wearing a fancy looking toga.

"Believe it or not, the codes were actually based on the Corpus Jurus Civilis- another word for Emperor Justiniun's 16th-century Roman Law. Because these old laws were confusing...BLAHBLAHBLAH."

His voice trailed off in my mind as I tuned out.

_'Listen to what he is saying,'_ the Voice encouraged. _'You never know if this information can help you later on.'_

At least, I think it was encouraging. It was hard to tell.

_'If it was current events, maybe,'_ I disagreed, putting the finishing touches on a feather I was doodling into my notebook, _'or recent news, or something that actually applied to saving the world. But learning about a short Frenchman from the 1800's doesn't exactly help me with my so-called destiny.'_

_'Yes, but think about the world you are saving, all the trials and errors that had to be experienced in history to make modern life now possible.' _

I blinked, frowning as The Voice continued.

_'Just think about it for a minute, Max- humans continue to learn and change with every challenge and problem that they encounter so that they can adjust how they'll react to similar situations in the future. The world works in the same way- the mistakes and accomplishments in our history are applied to the present. It's all about adaptation. You, for one, would know about that all too well.'_

I mentally snorted. _'Ya' think?'_

_'...The future of the world depends on the past, Max.' _

Mr. Justice droned on, but The Voice's words echoed in my head. I felt like they had had a double meaning to them.

Justice flipped to the last slide, a painting of Napoleon Bonaparte himself, sitting in a chair. Napoleon was dressed in French regalia, an emotionless expression on his face.

I watched as Mr. Justice stood in front of the class, his hands folded behind him.

"From Napoleon's own words...'The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos... both his own, and his enemies'."

Then the bell suddenly rung as if it was waiting for Justice to finish with his ominous line, and I began to gather up my things.

But as Justice hurriedly rambled out our homework assignment for tomorrow over the sound of desk chairs being pushed back, a weird feeling settled in my gut.

I couldn't quite place why, but for some reason, I felt a strange sense of foreshadowing.

Greeaatt...

Foreshadowing, codes, and double meanings.

If my life keeps this up, I might turn into bird-girl Nostradamus.

* * *

I slid into an empty chair, slinging my backpack onto the ground beside me. Logging into the computer, I waited for the screen to pop up.

I glanced around the library casually as it loaded, profiling my surroundings.

Virginia Preparatory Academy's library was a nice one, almost as nice as the one in New York had been. Everything was in pristine condition- from the dark walnut bookshelves that lined the walls and back corner of the library, to the plush red carpet. The Academy spared no expense when it came to decorating, apparently.

The computer section, which I was sitting in right now, was in the middle of the library, surrounded by desks and bookcases that lined the walls. The librarians' desk was straight ahead, giving the staff a clear view of all the students.

Luckily the library was relatively empty, so I pulled out a few coded papers I had taken from the pile at home.

A librarian looked up from her work at me, meeting my eyes from over my computer. I gave her a "I'm a perfect little angel who is _certainly_ not going to try and analyze secret stolen documents in your library," look, and she frowned, going back to her work.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I pulled out my pencil and algebra notebook, flipping to an empty page in the back.

Who cares if Fang wanted me to take a break from figuring them out. He could relax all he wanted. But in the meantime, I needed to be productive.

Plus, it was study hall. What else did I have to do?

Homework? _Pshh_.

Moving the pages to sit beside the keyboard, I rubbed at my temples, trying to dispel the headache I had acquired throughout the day.

It was one of _those_ days. The days that you didn't know they could move any slower if they tried.

I _hated_ days like this.

And by the time I looked back up, the computer was loaded.

I sighed, opening up Google.

In the search engine, I entered "Different codes and ciphers."

_'Alright, baby_,' I thought tiredly, clicking into the first webpage that popped up on the screen. _'Gimme' some answers._'

* * *

Over half an hour later, I was gritting my teeth and trying to avoid punching a hole through the computer.

Nothing came up. Nothing clicked or made sense with the codes.

Zilch. Nada. _Nein_.

And any other synonyms for 'no' that you can think of.

It was so _frustrating_! It was unbreakable, I swear-

"Hey," A smooth voice replied from beside me, and I jumped.

Adrenaline shot through my veins and I spun my head to the right. A boy was sitting in the chair next to mine, logging onto his computer.

I vaguely recognized him… And then I remembered. He was in my health class.

What was his name again? Shane? Sean?

"Sorry if I spooked you." He continued sheepishly, shooting me a dazzling smile. "You looked pretty into your work."

I hadn't even heard him sit down. Wow- I must have really been focused. Nice one, Max...

"Um… It's okay." I replied lamely. He brushed back some shaggy chestnut colored hair from his green eyes. He was kind of cute, actually…

"Sooo, what'cha doing?" He asked, peering over at my notebook. "That looks pretty interesting. Are those codes?"

I slammed my notebook shut, and he blinked, looking taken aback.

I resisted the urge to bite out 'none of your beeswax'. Then I reminded myself that maybe this was how normal people conversed. I kicked my paranoia down a notch.

"Sorry. But no- it's just homework." I smiled, trying to look convincing.

But it seemed to work, because he instantly relaxed and grinned at me again.

"Too bad. I love solving those things."

Okay, my paranoia level moved back up. How would he know how to decode things? Maybe he worked with The School…

"I know it's kind of weird and geeky," he laughed, elaborating. "But I used to play Sherlock Holmes computer games as a kid."

"Sherlock Holmes… He's a detective, isn't he?" I vaguely remembered seeing some of those books in Anne's house. Not that I read them or anything.

"Uh, Yeah." He seemed surprised that I didn't know. "And the games always had these fun puzzles in them. Some of them were codes you had to solve."

A teasing light filled his eyes, and he leaned in, as if he was telling me a secret. "And not to brag or anything, but I was a _pro_ at it."

I laughed. "I guess that is prettygeeky."

He chuckled, and I couldn't help but like the sound of his laugh. It wasn't as bright and contagious as Fang's, or as cackling as Iggy's, but it was nice. Carefree.

"Y'know, I don't believe we've ever talked before," he noted, and my heart kicked in my chest, nervousness creeping in.

It wasn't exactly a bad feeling… But I didn't like it, either.

"No, I don't think we have."

"I'm Sam," He said, extending a hand for me to shake.

I reluctantly took it, a blush forming on my cheeks. "Max."

He grinned at me and turned back to his computer, opening up his browser.

"So… You moved here from Michigan?" Sam conversed, his eyes locked on his screen as he navigated Virginia Prep's website.

"Yep. My parents are missionaries, so we've moved up here to stay with my aunt while they're away."

The flock and I had rehearsed that explanation a number of times- so much so that we could probably say it in our sleep. And along with our own made-up parents, we also went under fake names. I was just Max, not Maximum; Fang was Nick, Iggy was Jeff, Nudge was Tiffany-Krystal, which was a lot shorter of a name than what she first wanted- Gazzy is Zephyr (which is soo much better than Captain Terror), and last but not least, Angel went by Ariel.

And since we were all expert liars and connivers, it was no problem for us to create new identities for ourselves.

What can I say? We were pretty crafty.

But hey, a bird-kid's gotta' do what a bird-kid's gotta' do, right?

"Do you like it here? You must miss your parents a lot."

"Yeah, it's nice here. And I do miss them," I lied smoothly. "But my aunt is cool, so it's not bad."

Sam smiled at me. "I wish I had a cool aunt. All of mine are debutantes who are only interested in garden parties and yippy little dogs."

"What's a debutante?"

"It's like a beauty showcase for the rich and glamorous." He said it with a dramatic eye roll, and I giggled.

I immediately looked away, blushing red. I'm Maximum freaking Ride- I don't do giggling! What has gotten into me?

"That sounds awful," I empathized, and he nodded.

"Yeah, it's _really_ fun to spend time with them." His voice dripped with over-exaggerated sarcasm. "They keep trying to convince me to join them."

"They want you to be in a _beauty pageant_?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Hey, it's a party, _not_ a pageant. And even though I've told them time and time again that I don't want to do it, they still keep insisting." He began imitating his aunts. "Sammy! You'd be the perfect little gentleman! And in a nice tuxedo and tie, you'd make _all_ the little ladies want to dance with you!'"

I burst out laughing, surprised by how easy it was to talk to this random guy, and he joined in.

"Shhh!" A shrill old lady shushed us from the large library desk, startling us both.

"Oops," Sam chuckled, and I grinned at him.

"Samuel!" The librarian scolded again in a hushed voice. "This is study hall. That means that you should be silent and _study_!"

"Yes, Ma'am," He said sweetly.

"This is the third time this week you've been using this period unproductively. This is your last warning, Samuel, or you'll have to have a talk with Headmaster Pruitt."

"I swear, this will be the last time, Mrs. Forrester."

And while Sam was being reprimanded, I took the opportunity to close down my webpage.

I put my notebook and coded pages back into my bag. Hopefully it would be an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing and the topic wouldn't come up again.

"Are you leaving?" He asked, noticing me putting my stuff away. His eyes flickered back to the librarian, cautious of being lectured again.

"Um… yeah. I have to go to my locker."

I actually was planning on doing some homework for the night with the last ten minutes I had left this period, but for some reason I was feeling kind of off-kilter and a little bit strange.

Again, it wasn't a bad feeling, but… I don't know.

I just didn't feel like myself.

And because 'myself' is the thing I trust the most in the world, it makes me uneasy.

Sam looked like he wanted to say something more, and I waited.

But instead, he gave me a small smile.

"Okay," he said. "See ya' later."

A weird disappointed feeling settled over me as I stood up, swinging my backpack over my shoulder.

"Yeah. See you."

I pushed my chair in and turned, walking towards the doors.

"Hey, Max?" Sam called after me.

Unwanted butterflies fluttered in my chest. _Get it together, Max! What's your problem!_

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I save you a seat in health class tomorrow?"

My face heated for the nth time that day, and I suddenly wanted to be outta' here.

But instead I nodded, surprising myself.

"Sure."

Sam beamed at me, and I turned away, pushing through the doors and out into the hallway.

And as I walked towards my locker, I couldn't help the large grin that broke out across my blushing face.

* * *

**A.N. Aaaand scene! What do you think of Sam? Like him? Hate him? Want Fang to totally show him up?**

**Leave a review and let me know!**

**Also, sorry for the informative history lesson at the beginning! It will play a part later on in the story, so just bear with me! **

**(!PLEASE READ!)**

**I'm trying to get my writing style down because I have a few ideas for books/stories that I'd love to write in the future, and any advice you'd like to give me about my writing would be greatly appreciated! If there's anything you've noticed in my writing that you think I should change or work on, let me know!**

**You could leave a review or PM me if you'd like with your comments, and it would help me out a lot. Constructive criticism is great; don't worry about being offensive- Anything helps! **

**Thanks, guys! (:**


	5. Chapter 4

**A.N. I want to apologize yet again for taking longer than I said I would to update! Gah! I'm so sorry you guys!**  
**But thank you SO MUCH to everyone who reviewed for this story, and favorited/followed it! Thank you so much for the inspirational comments! And I loved hearing your opinions, so keep them coming, kay? :)**  
**And I am definitely a FAX shipper (Sax & Fissa = sad face), so no worries! **  
**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

Chapter 4:

Putting a hand above my eyes to shield them from the sun, I watched as Angel tucked in her wings and dive-bombed the lake. Flipping at the last second, she cannonballed into the water, creating a large splash that rose ten feet in the air.

Gazzy laughed from the small dock, shielding his face from the drops of water.

She popped up from the water, giggling, and I smiled at her.

"Nice job, Ange. That was at least a nine!"

"I'd say it was more of an eight," Gazzy commented, jumping up from his sitting position and spreading his tawny brown wings. "But _this_ is going to be a ten!"

He rose in the air and flew high in the sky, getting ready to plunge into the pool like his sister had done.

"You wish, Gasman!" Angel taunted. She jumped out of the water and soared up to her brother.

"One at a time, guys!" I yelled up to them. "I don't want you getting hurt!"

"We won't!" They yelled back in unison, and I shook my head.

I looked back down at the book sitting in my lap, not really wanting to read it, but wanting to do _something_.

So I closed my eyes instead, set on taking a nap.

I was sort of... Well, _bored_, for the first time in my life.

It was around 5:00, and the sun was still high in the sky. We had just gotten back from school, and after a round of snacks, we decided to head outdoors. It was an unusually warm day for September, and my flock was all lounging on Anne's estate in shorts and t-shirts.

I was on Anne's patio, laying on her lounge chair and soaking up some rays. It was nice to relax like this. Nice, but strange. I wasn't used to it.

I half-expected Erasers to pop up any second now.

And some twisted part of me actually wanted the Erasers to show up.

Weirdly enough, I missed fighting. I missed running and flying and doing bird-kid things. Those things were on common ground with me. And playing normal teenager _so_ wasn't.

"You look like you're having a _blast_," Fang commented sarcastically from beside me. My eyes flew open and I glanced at him.

He was lounging on the lawn chair beside me. I noticed that he'd shed his school wardrobe for a pair of black jeans and a black button-up t-shirt, even though it was like, 80 degrees out.

"Who's book is that?"

He reached over and plucked the book from my lap, skimming over the synopsis on the back with his dark eyes.

"Sherlock Holmes?" He asked curiously, turning it over in his hands. "He's a detective, isn't he?"

I grinned at him, nodding. I vaguely recalled asking the exact same question earlier.

"It's Anne's. I was bored and she said I might like it." In all truthfulness, I had sort of sought out the book. After my talk with Sam… Well, it didn't sound like such a boring read.

I mean, after all, Sherlock Holmes had to solve codes, and so do I. Why shouldn't I want to read them?

Right?

I faintly heard a large splash coming from the pond and sighed. No doubt Gazzy and Angel had done what I told them not to and both dived in at the same time.

With a curious glance, Fang gave the book back to me. "I didn't know that you were into mysteries."

I shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not. I only got to page five."

"Boring read?" He guessed.

"No. Too many big words."

Fang laughed, giving me a rare, gleaming smile, and it was like the sun coming out.

It was rare when Fang smiled, and even more rare when he laughed. But when he did… Well, it made everything a bit brighter.

But then his smile dropped, and he looked at me with speculation.

"You know, it's funny that you're reading a book about a detective, Max," He began, leaning back in his chair casually.

Fang raised an eyebrow at me, elaborating when I gave him a confused look. "You're not reading that because of the codes, are you?"

"What?" I asked, trying to hide my surprise at him guessing my motive. Well, half of my motive, anyway. "Why would you ask that?"

Fang rolled his eyes, immediately sensing that he was right. "Because I know you."

"Yeah. So?"

"Max… It's like you're becoming obsessed with those codes."

Only Fang could be that blunt with me and get away from it. Only Fang knew me as well as I knew myself, if not better.

Sometimes it could be so unbelievably irritating.

"Um, what?" I asked again, venom in my voice. _Watch your step, Fang_, I thought, hating that he was making it sound like I was insane or addicted or something.

Fang sighed as if I could read my mind, looking into my eyes.

"Max, those codes probably have nothing important in them, and yet, here you are, consuming all of your time trying to figure them out."

"And what's so bad about that?"

"Because, you should be _relaxing_," He gave me a look- one of those "listen to me because I know everything" looks, and I resisted letting loose the flood of sarcastic comments threatening to rush free from my mouth.

"Look, Max; we haven't had a break like this in a long time. There hasn't been an Eraser in weeks, we have beds and showers and toilets- thank God. Everyone's enjoying it."

"And they should be." I butted in.

"Yeah, everyone is doing just as they should be- except _you_."

I was getting really agitated, really fast.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you've been trying so hard to figure out those stupid documents that you're not even having any fun."

I pursed my lips as I tried to fight down my rising anger- partly from Fang being a Debbie-downer on my day, and partly because I knew that he was right. Not like I would ever admit that to him, though.

"We could be back on the road at any moment, Max," Fang reasoned softly, his dark brown eyes sincere. "Erasers could jump out and we'd be running from the school again. But right now, we're safe. It's kind of like we're on vacation, a depot stop on our mission where we can let our guards down for a bit. But you're still at work, and we don't know how long this peace will last. So why not live it up?"

"Wow, _Nudge_," I mocked, noticing that that was probably the longest speech I'd ever heard him give in my life. "What's with the word vomit?"

He glowered at me. "What's with your pissy attitude?"

"Did you come over here just to ruin my day?" I snapped, glaring daggers at him. "It wasn't going horribly for once, thanks."

"You're welcome," He retorted childishly, knowing it would make me mad, and obviously it worked.

"Well, aren't you smart? What with your oh-so wise words about what I should and shouldn't be doing. Geez, I didn't know you liked playing the role of my _father-figure _that much."

"You're just mad because you know I'm right," He said matter-of-factly, his face impassive. But his jaw was clenched, and I could see the minimal tightening around his eyes.

"That statement is probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Plus," I continued, sitting up straighter and shifting closer to him. "What is with the 'we can let our guards down', crap? We can't ever let our guards down, Fang! Have you forgotten the E-house already? We had our guards down, and they kidnapped Angel! Or... Or our entire _lives_, maybe?"

Fang rolled his eyes, and I started to see red. "You said it yourself; Erasers can pop out at any moment. So now, while for the first time in _months _we haven't had people trying to _kill us_, it's perfect for being able to concentrate on getting some answers. And that's exactly what I intend to do."

Fang and I glared at each other for a long moment, and I struggled to regain my breathing. I hated fighting with my flockmates, and I _especially_ hated fighting with Fang. He was my right-hand man, after all. And I hated it when we didn't see eye-to-eye.

"It sounds like you have your mind made up then," Fang finally said, and I hated the dismissive tone in his voice.

With his words, all my anger faded, and a deep frown graced my lips.

"And?" I tried, knowing there must be something more he wanted to say.

"And... I want to make a deal with you."

That caught me by surprise.

I cocked my head, looking at him with renewed curiosity.

"Go on, Howie Mandel- what's the deal?"

Fang's lips lifted a bit, though I could tell that he was still far from happy.

"You think these codes are important, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I can't really explain it, but I know that somehow they are."

I willed him to see that this was just something I had to do. Fang was giving me a level look in return, but I could tell that he was at war with himself.

"Fine," He huffed after a few moments. "Then here is my deal: if you stay away from those codes throughout the weekend, starting right now… I'll help you solve them, and not just on nights when I feel like it. We'll go at your crazy obsessive speed."

"Really." I stated, not really believing him.

"Scouts honor- for however long it takes. You have my word."

"And why would you want to do that?" I asked him, suspicious.

He sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. "Because you're not going to let it drop until we finally solve that thing. And if it helps you... then there's no other option."

His words sunk in, and I realized that even though he really didn't want to do it, he would anyway. Because he knew that it was bothering so much. Because he wanted to stick by my side, even though he thought the pages held nothing but meaningless gibberish. Because he was Fang, and he genuinely cared about me.

"That's... That's really sweet, actually."

He snorted, giving me a 'don't get sappy on me' look.

I grinned at him, overwhelmed by how much of an amazing friend he was. "Thanks, Fang."

Then I did something completely out of the ordinary for me.

I leaned over and hugged him.

Fang sat there awkwardly, no doubt surprised, as I rested my head against his warm, stiff shoulder.

"Thanks for sticking by me; it means a lot. Even though you think I'm crazy."

Fang laughed shortly, the bright sound making me smile.

He reached around me and put a hand against my back. I tensed up at first, surprised by him returning the hug, but then relaxed as he started rubbing circles between my shoulder blades and down between my wings- a comforting gesture that he knew I loved.

I closed my eyes, our fight completely forgotten.

"Yeah, well- someone's gotta' do it," He muttered jokingly. "And crazy doesn't even begin to explain _you_."

I snorted, trying not to smile.

"Are you guys _hugging_?!" Nudge asked incredulously, startling us both. We immediately pulled away from each other as if we were just burned.

She walked out of the sliding glass doors that connected the patio to Anne's living room, looking like we'd both grown two heads. Anne followed behind her, smiling at us both.

"Uh, yeah…" I said awkwardly, blushing slightly. Fang looked like he'd rather be anywhere else than here at the moment. I was so with him.

"Are you guys okay?" Nudge asked. I went to laugh, but I noticed that she was dead serious.

I guess it wasn't every day when you saw the two head members of the flock touching, let alone hugging. Fang and I both were not touchy people, Fang less than myself.

"Yeah, Nudge- we're fine. Fang and I just... worked something out," I explained, feeling totally idiotic.

"Ooh," She nodded, piecing it together. "You guys had a fight."

"Uh, yeah." I snuck a glance at Fang to find him looking at me.

"But we're better now," Fang said, looking at Anne. "Everything is resolved."

"That's good, guys," Anne beamed, and Nudge nodded beside her.

"Nudge and I just came out here to tell you that dinner's ready! And Iggy has made a masterpiece!"

* * *

I took the stack of coded pages and set them neatly in Fang's desk drawer before closing it and turning around, hands on my hips.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked Fang, gesturing to the now confiscated files. Fang and I had already made our agreement; it wasn't like I was going to go against it and start looking at the files again.

"Yup," He said from where he leaned against his doorframe. One of his legs was crossed over the other one, and he was leaning on his shoulder- the picture of ease.

I rolled my eyes at him. "I already promised you. It's not like I would have looked at them."

His mouth quirked up, and he pushed off the doorframe, walking towards his window.

"And now you definitely won't."

I rolled my eyes again, crossing my arms over my chest. He opened his window and looked back at me, sending me a smirk.

"Whatever. I still think it was overkill." I watched as he walked to his dresser and grabbed a black hoodie, throwing it on.

"Overkill, shmoverkill. One could never be too careful." He extended his wings from his back, maneuvering them through the slits in the sweatshirt fabric, moving towards his window again.

Fang's wings were amazing. They were massive- an easy fifteen feet, with feathers so black that they were almost purple in the right light. I watched as his feathers ruffled a bit as he stood by the window, catching the breeze.

I could tell that he was itching to get into the air just much as I was. The kids were already wheeling through the sky, riding the wind currents, and I was anxious to join them. My wings twitched at my back, and I watched as Fang's did the same.

Don't tell anyone else this, but Fang's wings were probably the most gorgeous out of all of the flock's. And with his dark eyes and hair the same color of midnight black as his feathers, he looked like the Angel of Death. Of course, his all black wardrobe didn't help him shake that image. He would never admit it, but I think he secretly liked it.

"What's up?" He asked, stepping back from the window when he realized that I wasn't following him. "Something on your mind?"

I shook my head as he walked towards me, trying not to blush at the fact that I had been staring at his wings. Thank goodness he hadn't noticed.

"Nothing." But now that he mentioned it... "Well, actually- there is something. What do you think of Anne's little 'surprise' for us this weekend?"

He thought for a moment before shrugging one shoulder. "The kids are excited. It definitely doesn't seem like anything we should worry about."

I sighed. "I know. But I hate surprises."

"Yeah, I know you do. It'll probably be something simple, like going to the zoo, or going hiking or something."

At dinner, Anne had given us a hint at her surprise. The kids had been ecstatic, barely able to contain themselves as Anne had prolonged the hint, trying not to grin.

"What did she say? 'It's somewhere close by, and we'll need a change of clothes for it?'"

"Something like that," Fang agreed, swiping some of his dark bangs away from his face.

Anne's hint seemed harmless enough, but I still couldn't shake the nervousness it brought me.

"Relax," Fang soothed, placing a warm hand on my shoulder. "It's nothing to be worried about. We'll both be looking out for everyone, and nothing bad is going to happen."

"Thanks." And I really was grateful. "I worry too much, don't I?" I asked, knowing what his answer was going to be.

"Yes," We both said at the same time.

We laughed, and Fang dropped his hand off my shoulder, that effortless, crooked, half-smile on his lips.

I had noticed that he'd been more open with me lately, and I wondered why that was. Whatever his reason, I definitely liked it.

"Before dinner," I began, feeling a little stupid, "I kind of... well, I kind of blew up at you."

Fang and I didn't do apologies well. Having grown up in dog cages left little room for learning manners, after all.

"Yeah, well-" Fang coughed, looking uncomfortable. "Forget it. It's done with. We're back on track, right?"

"Totally," I said earnestly.

"Good." Fang began backing himself towards the window, a playful glint to his eyes. "Sooo...You coming, Nancy Drew?"

I rolled my eyes again, smiling. "Right behind you, Sherlock."

And I followed his lead as he launched himself out the window.

I ran and jumped through the window, opening my white and brown speckled wings to catch my fall as I hurtled toward the ground, twelve feet below me. My feathers aligned and I began to rise in the air, coming up from a dip and rocketing upwards. I headed towards the rest of the flock, circling above me and Fang, waiting for us to join them for a night flight.

I sped up to fly next to Fang, loving the exhilaration and feeling of freedom as my wings beat powerfully above me, and wondering how I could have gone through a whole day of school without flying.

Fang's wings flapped next to me, and I turned to look at him.

His lips tilted upwards at me, before he returned his gaze to the moon- huge and glowing white in the distance.

"Hey!" Iggy called as we neared him, hearing our wings split the air. "It's about time you guys showed up!"

"Yeah," Gazzy agreed, flying in circles around Iggy. "We've been waiting for _ages_!"

"Oh, have you, now?" I asked playfully, slowing my speed enough to fly up beside Angel without plowing straight into her.

"Well, it was more like five minutes," Nudge elaborated, grinning at me.

"But it seemed like forever!" Gazzy stressed.

I chuckled, ruffling The Gasman's hair. "Oh, calm down, little piglet." He maneuvered away from me, dropping a few feet before rising up a few yards away, safe from any hair-ruffling on my part.

"Hey, Max?" Angel asked, and I looked down at her." Are we going to explore the caves, now?"

The flock and I had discovered a cluster of caves a few miles from the outskirts of Anne's huge Estate. Since it had been a school night, and we had a curfew to adhere to, we hadn't had time to explore them. So, since we had set aside tonight to play bird-kid Indiana Jones.

"Yup" I said, popping the 'p'. "You want to lead the expedition, Captain?"

She nodded at me excitedly, making her blonde curls spring up and down. "Yeah!"

"Then lead on!" Iggy exclaimed, saluting Angel. "Aye-aye, captain!"

With an excited squeal, Angel took off towards our destination. We all followed close behind her, laughing and joking about school and teachers.

One small band of merry mutants.

I wished that it could always be like this- just us six, flying off into the peaceful night like some cheesy movie ending.

I hoped that we'd always be together. A flock.

I glanced around at each one of them, wondering how a bunch of kids like us, growing up in dog crates in a evil institution could be where we were today. Whole. Safe. Living. Thriving.

We were _free_.

And I was determined to keep it that way.

... I would give my life for it.

**A.N. Review! :)  
Let me know what you thought! **  
**Any predictions for what happens next, or Anne's surprise? **  
**The next chapter is what starts Max's mission, so stay tuned!  
**


	6. Chapter 5

**A.N. Okay, I know I said that I was going to start updating sooner, _again_, and I'm sorry for the wait! I hope that my writing will be able to speed up for this story.**  
**Thanks again to all of you who reviewed! I love hearing your feedback, and please keep continuing to send it! It really helps me a lot with my writing!  
And who would you guys like to play Fang/the Max Ride cast in the youtube web series they're going to make next spring? I'm curious! **

* * *

Chapter 5:

"Now, who can tell me what a foodborne illness is?" Mrs. Tabarras asked, pacing in front of the white screen displaying a health PowerPoint. She was a pudgy shrill lady with overgrown black hair and wide-rimmed glasses, which reflected the light from the projector every time she switched directions.

The lights were dimmed and shades were drawn over the windows so the students could see the screen, and I was finding it very hard to stay awake. On top of having to fight the lull of napping away Health period, a migraine had made itself known in my head, and I rubbed my temples to ease away the tension.

It was one of those annoying headaches. And it wasn't exactly one of the mind-splitting brain attacks that I normally have, but it was a different kind- the _normal_ kind.

But look on the bright side! At least it was a Friday.

"Ah, Miss Jennifer?" Mrs. Tabarras exclaimed, pointing to a frizzy-haired girl behind me who had her hand raised.

"That's when bacteria pollutes foods and drinks, and they can spread to the person who eats them."

Mrs. Tabarras beamed at the teen, proud of her prized student's knowledge.

"Very good, very good!" She flipped the slide, showing us a picture of some creepy looking bacteria viruses.

"Like Miss Jennifer said, foodborn illness is caused by consuming contaminated foods and beverages, which have certain pathogens and bacteria in them. On average, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 _deaths_ occur from these infectious diseases per year_-"_

I glanced down just in time to see a folded piece of notebook paper flop onto my health textbook.

My eyes flicked to Sam, who sat beside me. He was facing straight ahead, trying not to grin.

Keeping my eyes on the teacher, I reached forward and grabbed the piece of paper, holding it under my desk.

Fighting down a blush, I opened his note, wondering why I was a little bit excited.

**Do you want to hear a joke? :)**

I smiled, scribbling down my answer when Tabarras wasn't looking.

**Bring it.**

I passed it to him, feeling kind of sneaky.

Sam opened it and grinned as he read it. And within seconds, it was back on my desk.

**How does Lady Gaga wake up in the morning?**

My brows furrowed.

**Who's _Lady Gaga_?**

Sam seemed taken aback by my comment. Giving me a surprised look, he hastily scribbled his reply and handed it back to me.

**Seriously? Everyone knows her- she's a singer!**

Huh. Maybe Nudge could have heard of her- she was our media lover. When you grow up isolated from the rest of the world, on the run from evil wackjobs, there weren't many opportunities to learn about pop culture.

**Ok. So how does she wake up in the morning?**

I waited for Sam to answer, and when the paper was in my sight, I unfolded it again.

**You poke her face.**

I stared blankly at the punch line, not really sure why it was supposed to be funny. **  
**

**... I don't get it.**

Sam chuckled, shaking his head.

**She's got a song called 'Poker face'...**

I wasn't really understanding it, and I really didn't know how to respond.

But when I went to scribble down my reply, a dark shadow suddenly loomed over me.

My senses were hyper-alert as Mrs. Tabarras cleared her throat, tapping her foot against the carpeted floor. Slowly sliding my gaze to her, I looked her in the eyes. She pursed her lips, slanting her eyebrows down in impatience.

"Miss Ride? Can you answer my question?"

Oh, _great_.

"Um," I began, feeling everyone's eyes on me. "What was the question?"

A few kids snickered behind me, and I resisted the urge to turn around and glare at them.

She raised one eyebrow in annoyance. "I _asked_, Miss Ride, if anyone could tell me some examples of the foodborn illnesses that we just talked about. And you are my lucky volunteer. Now, can you name some?"

This lady was pure evil.

_Voice_? I thought hastily, _Any help here?  
_

_Say Salmonella, e. Coli, and Norovirus,_ the Voice immediately replied in my head.

I almost sighed in relief.

"Salmonella, e. Coli, and Nervous-virus." I repeated, trying to sound less repeating-drone-like, and more natural. Mrs. Tabarras looked momentarily taken aback at me knowing the answer, thinking I wasn't a voice-hearing mutant bird kid and all. And who wouldn't think that, right?

She cleared her throat again and nodded. "It's pronounced 'noro-virus'. And I don't appreciate you passing notes in my class, Miss Ride. I know you're a new student here, but it would do you good to pay attention."

"Of course. It won't happen again, Ma'am." I retained my 'all-too-innocent' look, adding an extra smile at the end to add to my convincing-ness.

Ouch. Okay, no face-splitting smiles. Headache-no-likey.

Tabarras squinted her eyes at me in distaste before spinning on her heel and walking back up to her board. A few students behind me giggled at her reaction.

I glanced over at Sam. He shot me a sweet smile and a quick 'thumbs up'.

I hesitantly grinned back and immediately turned to face the front of the room just as the teacher swiveled around and flipped to the next slide.

I smoothed my hair back before putting my and Sam's note in my backpack, determined to not get reprimanded for the second time today.

"Believe it or not, schools are actually one of the many settings where foodborn illnesses can begin," Tabarra rambled on, the slide depicting a picture of a lunchroom. "Most of these are caused by Noroviruses, which you can get through touching contaminated surfaces or contact with infected persons, as well as contact with tainted foods and water."

"Another good reason why we shouldn't eat our sucky school lunches." A kid whispered from behind me, and the class burst into muffled laughter.

"Wizowsky!" Tabarras exclaimed, pointing her finger at a lanky skater boy in the corner of the room who was spinning his pen in the air with a mischievous smirk on his face. "That comment is dreadfully uncalled for! Lunch ladies try really hard to make the food as nice as possible, and I think you should show some appreciation."

"Well, I think-"

"Don't even start this!" Mrs. Tabarra interrupted, holding her hand up to Travis Wizowsky in the universal 'stop' motion. "We're talking about infectious diseases, not our lunch ladies. And you should be thankful for those school lunches. Do you know how many people go without food in this world? Now, let's get back to the slide, and if you don't cease to stop speaking out during class, there will be consequences."

She straightened out her shirt over her plump belly, clicking the button on the PowerPoint.

Travis snickered from the back of the room. "Who crapped in her Wheaties?" He whispered, and the class broke out into laughter.

I glanced at Sam, who was trying hard not to laugh, much as I was.

"One more word, Mr. Wizowsky, and you're heading straight to headmaster Pruitt!" Tabarras glared at him, her glasses slipping down her pointy nose.

"Now, who can tell me about influenza?!"

* * *

"Hey, Maxie!" J.J exclaimed as she joined me at our lunch table. "Woah- You don't look so hot. You okay?"

J.J. was short for Jennifer Joy, a name that she claimed was brought on by her hippie parents. She had long, curly, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes- she was really pretty. She had been my first friend at this school, and was probably the only girl in my entire class that I actually felt comfortable hanging out with.

I was massaging my temples, trying to rub away the massive headache I was getting when she sat down.

I nodded, sliding my hands down my neck and resting my elbows on the tabletop. "Yeah. Just tired is all."

But truthfully, I felt like I was about to keel over.

I felt like something was... _off_, somehow. I felt sick, and hot, and like my head was about to explode.

Now, us bird-kids don't get sick- not like humans do. We've got super-functioning immune systems that help out with that. But what I was feeling now... well, I don't think I've ever felt like this before.

And what's worse was that I still had half the day left to go. After that horrendous health period, I had endured psychology, economy, and was headed to P.E. after this.

J.J. raised her eyebrows at me, picking up her spoon and digging it into what looked like imitation stuffing.

"You look like you're sick. You sure you don't have the flu or something?"

I sighed, opening my lunch bag and pulling out an apple and a baloney sandwich. "I _so_ hope not."

I especially hoped I wasn't getting the bird flu, specifically. Iggy and Gaz would never stop teasing me about that one.

"But yeah, I didn't really sleep last night." I bit into the fruit, the sweet juice running down my chin. I quickly wiped it off with my blazer's sleeve.

Who has time for proper etiquette? Not me, that's who.

"It looks like you haven't slept for the last _couple_ of nights." I glared sourly at her and she grinned sheepishly. "I didn't mean it in a bad way, just that you… Well, actually, you look terrible."

I snorted.

J.J. giggled, lifting her spoon and shoveling some of the stuffing mush into her mouth. She chewed slowly before pausing.

Subtly lifting her napkin, she quietly spit her food into it, throwing it down onto her plate. She shoved her tray away from her, squishing her face up in disgust.

"Okay, I'm never eating lunch food again!"

"That's probably a good idea – cafateria food is the gateway to foodborn illnesses, you know." She gave me a 'what the h' look before eying my sandwich.

"You want it?" I offered, pushing it towards her.

Normally I was pretty protective of my food; us bird freaks need to have a _minimum_ of 3,000 calories a day. I know – crazy, right? But today, along with the headache and feverish feeling, my appetite decided to disappear.

J.J.'s jaw dropped slightly in surprise. "Are you serious?"

I nodded and took another bite of my apple. She shook her head slowly, lifting up the sandwich and chomping on it.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?" She asked around a mouthful of baloney and bread.

"Who's not okay?" Iggy, a.k.a. 'Jeff', for fake identity purposes, asked, slowly sliding into the seat at my left. J.J. blushed, trying not to choke on her food, and kept her eyes locked on her plate.

It was no secret that she liked the Igster. Not that she's told me yet, but blushing tomato red and giggling whenever Iggy was mentioned in conversation was a dead giveaway. Although he was oblivious to it, since J.J. pretended to be indifferent towards him whenever he's around.

"Something's wrong with Max, Jeff! She gave me her _food_!" J.J. announced once she had finished swallowing, waving my baloney sandwich in the air to prove her point. "And she looks like she's going to pass out."

"What?" Iggy looked sightlessly at me before he raised his hands, placing one on my shoulder and one on my forehead before I could protest. He lightly felt my head with the back of his hand, resting it in random places on my skin.

Well, this was embarrassing.

"Jeff, I'm fine!" I tried to move his hands, but he insisted on playing doctor. Great; now I'm sick _and_ irritable.

"Hmm…" Iggy murmured. "You're really hot."

"Wow? sexist pig, much? I do prefer the term 'beautiful,' or 'breathtakingly gorgeous, though- for the record'." I jested.

Iggy gave me a 'you know what I mean' look before removing his hand. "Yeah, like I can totally see what you look like. But I think you might have a fever. Maybe you should go see the nurse?"

That wasn't going to happen. I'm not exactly fond of anything to do with medical doctors or people in white suits. Especially ones that had the opportunities to analyze us. Iggy realized what he had just insinuated, and elaborated. "I meant that maybe they would let you out of school."

Although the thought was appealing, I didn't like the idea of leaving the rest of my flock here where I wasn't close to them. Call me an over-protective mama hen if you'd like, but we've been separated before, and it didn't end well.

"Nah. I can't miss math period anyways." I lied, placing my half-eaten apple on J.J.'s discarded plate. Right on the stuffing mush. Mmm, doesn't that look delicious?

"You're sure?" J.J. asked, concern filling her eyes.

"Positive. I just need some sleep, and I'll be better by tomorrow." Neither of them looked convinced, especially Iggy.

J.J. gradually changed the topic to her favorite television shows- Iggy mainly talking about reruns of How I Met Your Mother that he'd seen, and my mind drifted.

I wondered how the kids were doing. It kind of sucked that we were in different wings of the school, and my paranoia was skyrocketing.

I kind of wished that Fang had lunch with me, just so he could reassure me that the kids were alright...

My stomach suddenly rolled, and I gripped the edge of the table hard.

The breath whooshed out of my chest like I had just been socked in the stomach. I could feel sweat begin to bead on my skin, and my mind raced along with the rapid beating of my heart.

Whatever this was, it wasn't normal. Not even on a bird-kid mutant level of normalcy.

My headache seemed to transform from a massive stress headache to a supernova of pain inside my brain, and my eyes started to water.

I vaguely recognized that J.J. and Iggy were trying to call to me, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

A muffled whimper registered in my mind, and it took me a moment to realize that it had come from me.

The world seemed to teeter dangerously, and I rested my head on my arms and closed my eyes, trying to squelch the sudden pain in my head and stomach. Every little noise seemed to ring in my ears, causing my head to pound even harder.

I could hear my heartbeat thrumming in my head, fast, and loud, and painful.

Everything hurt. _Everything_. I felt like I was on fire.

And suddenly, I couldn't breath.

_'I'm so sorry, Max.'_ The Voice sounded in my mind, just as a wave of pain crashed through my head.

And that's when images started to flash through my vision.

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**A.N. Review! :)**


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